UpFront

Linux Counter
(counter.li.org) is a
voluntary effort. It only counts people who bother to register (and
their machines). As of October 19, 2001, Linux Counter had
attracted close to 200,000 individual registrations from nearly 200
countries.

Here in Upfront we try to show various Linux statistics: from
Netcraft, Tucows, Evans Data and other sources. This month we
thought it would be a fun idea to see what users themselves are
saying about their distribution choices, including DIY: do it
yourself.

The pie chart shows the results. If you don't like 'em, go
vote with your own registration at the Linux Counter site.

Linux Counter Report: October 19, 2001

—Doc Searls

LJ Index—January
2002

Millions of people who watched streamed media of
the September 11, 2001 terrorist events: 21

Two unrelated legal developments are taking shape as we go to
press—one DVD-related and one involving Microsoft. In the first, a
California appellate court unanimously shot down a trial court
injunction that banned publication of DeCSS code that decrypts DVDs
so they can be played on any computer, and not just on players
manufactured by members of consumer electronics cartels. This case
is actually one of two DVD-related cases. The other, Universal
Studios and United States of America vs. Corley, is now in the US
2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. At the original trial in New York
City, the publisher of 2600 Magazine lost the
right to publish source code and information about DVDs, in front
of a judge who used to work for Time Warner. In the Microsoft case,
the US and Microsoft came to a preliminary agreement that likely
will bring their longstanding legal battle to an end.

At issue in the DeCSS case were the first ammendment rights
of those publishing the code vs. the trade secret rights of
entertainment companies distributing the DVDs. Those companies
objected specifically to the publication on the Web of DeCSS
software written by programmers in the fall of 1999 as part of an
effort to create a DVD player for computers running Linux. In early
2000, the DVDCCA, the movie studios' DVD licensing organization,
filed a lawsuit against hundreds of programmers and web publishers
seeking to ban DeCSS publication. Santa Clara County Judge William
Elfving granted the injunction request on January 21, 2000. The
appellate court ruled that Elfving violated the First Ammendment
rights of defendant Andrew Brunner by ordering him to remove the
code from his web site. The lower court based its rulings on trade
secret misappropriation, even though Brunner had found the program
in the public domain (on Slashdot) and simply republished it. The
case is still expected to go to trial next year before Judge
Elfving.

In the matter of the US vs. Microsoft, most pundits agreed
that the settlement favored Microsoft, which the original judge on
the case, Thomas Penfield Jackson, had called for breaking in two.
Dan Gillmor of the San Jose Mercury News
wrote:

This deal, assuming it takes hold, is a love
letter to the most arrogant and unrepentant monopolist since
Standard Oil. It's an invitation to keep on plundering and whacking
competition in the most important marketplace of our times, the
information marketplace.

John Borland of CNET called the settlement “a reward, not a
remedy”. Dave Winer of Userland, an independent commercial
developer that worked with Microsoft on the SOAP and XML-RPC
protocols, wrote:

It clearly doesn't go far enough and requires the
government to be involved in the architecture of Microsoft's
operating system and network services, such as SOAP, in an intimate
and impractical way.

While the settlement would leave the company intact, it would end
Microsoft's practice of forcing its hardware OEMs to distribute
Windows. It also would force the company to share elements of its
operating systems, giving competitors a little more room to
actually compete with Microsoft's own applications. Winer's
“intimate and impractical” remarks refer to a “Technical Committee”
that will be co-appointed by Microsoft and the Court and installed
at Microsoft to oversee compliance.

The one apparent upside for Linux is the release of hardware
makers from Microsoft OEM contracts that require distribution of
Windows. At least conceputally this leaves a much more open
hardware channel for Linux distribution.